Demolition threats against Palestinian Houses located close to Wall path in Far’oun Village

Threats of demolition against Palestinian houses in Far'un village, Tulkarem governorate, haven't stopped ever since the commencement of the Segregation wall works in the area in the year 2002. The first actual demolitions took place on January 22nd, 2004, when two houses were demolished:  the first owned by Mr. Faleh Rashad Hassan Isa, and, the second by Wa'il Subhi Mohammed Adwan. About one month later, on 9/ 2/2004,  the Israeli occupation army distributed another eleven notifications for halting works and demolition of Palestinian houses that are located in the western and southern part of the village under the same pretext – proximity to the Wall. Owners of these houses were asked to come to Beit Eil court on March 4, 2004. The following is a list of the notified persons:

( Photo 1: the three threatened houses of Mahmud Abdullah Farikh,
Bassam Salim Sulieman and Mufid Kamel Budeir)

Legal actions

After the distribution of the above notifications, the Far'un village council and affected owners authorized layer Fathi Shubeita from Tulkarem who defended them at the Israeli court in Beit Eil on march 4th, 2004. After the session, on march 11, 2004, the owners were given a new ultimatum for objection (see the 6 attached copies of this ultimatum). Although the layer presented  all the related documentations he received a negative response from the Israeli court which re-confirmed the validity of the notifications for halting works and demolition of the houses for the following pretexts:

1.     That the houses are located at the edge of the village built up area at the distance of 500 meters from the truce line.

2.     That the houses are close to the path of the Wall. See copy of house demolition warnings

Photos  2- 5

Photos 6 & 7

The Palestinian house owners refuted the Israeli claims by stressing that the houses were built in the year 1998 prior to the Wall construction and there was no objection on part of the Israeli occupation authorities. In addition, the houses were legally built inside the village built up area on parcels that were bought from the village council in basins number 8470 and 8467. Accordingly, the houses were licensed by the Far'un municipality.  The average distance of the houses from the path of the Wall is between 1 to 300 meters.

(photo 8: the houses of Farid Abdul Jabbar Farikh &

Imad Salman Hazahza)

Far'un and the Wall

Far'un is located 5 km to the south of the city of Tulkarem. Its population mounts to 3500. The village's total surface land area is 4333 dunums, of which only 495 dunums are built up area.

( map 1: location of Far'un and the Wall path)

The Wall works started in Far'un lands in January 2002. During this stage whose length was 3560 meters about 194 dunums of land were destroyed under the path of the Wall. Yet, this Wall path was revised by another military order according to which the path was extended to 5000 meters long resulting in the devastation of another 146 dunums. This brings to 340 the number of dunums that were devastated under the path of the Wall in Far'un village. In this section, the Wall path was built of barbed wires, electronic fences, trenches, security roads and surveillance cameras. It was completed at the beginning of the year 2003 after besieging the village from the west and southwest. A single agricultural gate carrying the number of 708 was opened in the Wall path for the use of Far'un farmers whose lands have been separated behind the Wall. Another gate is jointly used with Khirbet Jubara's farmers to the south of Far'un which carries the number of 22.

Wall impact on far'un

1.     The killing of Mr. Imad Salim Hazahza, 23 years old, by a bullet fired by an Israeli border police soldier whilst in his chicken farm located near the Wall path;

2.     The deprivation of 300 workers ( mostly heads of households) from reaching their workplaces inside Israel. This brings to almost 1800 the number of people affected by this measure in Far'un;

3.     The separation of almost 50% of the village land behind the Wall;

4.     A huge fire destroyed about 500 dunums from the village's separated land during July, 2006 after the Israeli occupation forces had prevented Palestinian fire squads and local people from extinguishing it. It is very likely, according to local people, that the settlers of Sha'are Ofarim were responsible for igniting the fire as it started near the settlement;

5.     Since the Wall completion the Israeli occupation army has been preventing farmers and shepherds from building any barracks or farms at the depth of 150 meters from the eastern edge of the  Wall or , even, from grazing cattle  in this strip of land;

6.     Depriving 26 families from the village of the right to get benefit of a land lease agreement with the municipality after the Wall path had cross-crossed their leased agricultural lands;

7.     The Wall path has destroyed six green houses and one animal shed owned by the families of Mohammed Ahmad Abdul Fattah and Abdul Karim Omer;

8.     Depriving a quite many farmers from getting entry permits that allows them to tend their land separated behind the Wall;

9.     The difficulty to take agricultural products out of the Wall separated area because of the Israeli ban on  Palestinian vehicles;

10.   The continuous attacks and harassments against farmers and land owners at the hands of the Israeli army personnel and settlers.;

11.   The village no more serves as a border crossing point for merchants, workers and commodities between the West Bank and Israeli proper;

12.      Because of Far'un's close location to Palestinian towns and villages in the Triangle area inside Israel such as at Atayba, strong social and cultural relations developed between its families and the Arab citizens of these towns and villages. In this context there are about 40 persons from Far'un who got married to women from the Triangle area who are currently badly affected because of the erection of the Wall and the difficulties to move from one side to another. For long time now, many families are unable to communicate with their relatives on the other side of the frontiers. This  aggravates the psychological suffering of these families.

(Photo 9: the house of Imad Salman Hazahza)

Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC